


A Tale of Two Telephones

by sazzykins



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Gen, I want them to be happy okay, M/M, THEY DESERVE IT, bring him back so kaneki has something to work for, hidekane, just cute fluff, when will my sunflower sun return from the war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 22:31:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10580835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sazzykins/pseuds/sazzykins
Summary: Kaneki is in the middle of deciding what to do with the Black Goats and how to progress with his plan when he receives a message one night.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kakera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kakera/gifts).



‘Kaneki?’

Kaneki perched on the edge of his bed and stared silently at the phone. The simple phone had been provided by Tsukiyama as a means of contact in battle in the event of separation and the number was only given to Take, Touka, Tsukiyama and Hinami. There was no wi-fi or any other connection and using it would only reveal his approximate location via the nearest telecommunication tower. He cradled the phone in his hands, debating whether to reply or not, fingers hovering over the keys. It could be someone else in his group who now had access to a phone, or it could be a trap - phone tracking was possible if a known flagged name appeared on an account anywhere. He forced himself to put the phone aside, picking up his book again, trying to ignore his curiosity; if it was someone he knew he would find out who soon enough without endangering himself or anyone else.

The phone vibrated loudly against the bedside table, screen lighting up with a new notification.

‘The CCG have new half ghouls looking for you. They’re strong. Be careful.’

Kaneki’s heart sped up. This wasn’t anyone within his group and he didn’t know anyone at the CCG who could message him now.

He remembered Tsukiyama’s small human friend who was able to hack into the CCG database. Maybe it was her, but why she would message him and not just tell Tsukiyama…

He picked the phone up again, staring at the screen as though it would tell him the identity of the mysterious messenger. Touka and Hinami were nearby, he could show them the messages and see what they thought. He ran through the local area in his head, picturing where the telecommunication towers were. If he moved far enough away from the base, he could reply without putting everyone in danger. Then if the person was a friend of some sort he could use the information.

Mind made up, he pulled a coat over and slipped the phone into his pocket. Touka was still downstairs, cleaning the tables down after a day of dealing with the Black Goats making the café their home.

“I’m going out for a while, Touka. See you later.” Kaneki made towards the door, hoping a fast exit would get him out of being questioned.

“Where are you going at this hour, Kaneki?” Touka asked, still calmly wiping the tables but the tone in her voice demanding an answer.

“I wanted to speak to Tsukiyama about something to do with the CCG, it’s information Chie might have…” Kaneki hoped this would be enough.

Touka sighed. “If he had information he would give it to you himself, Kaneki. Loudly and with great ceremony, if he had information we didn’t already know he would be in your face about it right now. What are you really doing?”

Kaneki stopped, caught out in his lie. He sighed.

“I got a message warning me about the CCG. I don’t know who it’s from, I thought I could find out if I went somewhere else and replied. That way if they’re a friend we have a new informant, and if they’re trying to track me down, I won’t be near here.”

“And what were you going to do if someone attacked you?” Touka asked, irritation creeping into her voice. Kaneki seemed to think he was capable of handling everything alone.

“Run away as fast as I can and only fight if needed?” A sheepish tone began creeping into Kaneki’s voice.

He only got a sigh in reply, then Touka tossed the cloth down and turned to him, gesturing for him to hand her the phone. He opened the messages up and passed her the phone, waiting silently for her judgement.

As she read, the phone buzzed again. Touka frowned at the screen for a moment. She held the phone up so Kaneki could see the screen and the new message that had arrived.

‘Are you there, Kaneki? ／(･ × ･)＼’

“Either this person is watching us right now and knows who I am or they’re a fan of rabbits,” Touka said, turning her head and glancing out of the window of the café. The road was dark except for the orange tinted pools of light surrounding the street lamps.

Kaneki didn’t reply. His heart had started beating almost painfully loud in his ears the moment Touka had mentioned rabbits - the emoticon suddenly making sense. He recalled Hide running towards him after the surgery, shouting about how loneliness can kill rabbits. He began shaking his head as he stared at the message, a small movement that took Touka a moment to notice.

“Kaneki, are you okay?”

He opened his mouth to reply and then closed it again as a lump formed in his throat. He knew it couldn’t be Hide, he had died, it was someone else and the emoticon was just a coincidence…

“Kaneki?” Hands landed on his shoulders. Touka gazed into his face, searching his eyes for what was upsetting him. “Talk to me, idiot. You look like you’re about to cry.”

Kaneki swallowed the lump, pushing the emotions down again and forcing his logical mind to take over.

“For a second I thought it was Hide… He used to compare himself to a rabbit.” Kaneki said, staring at the screen.

“And you know it isn’t?” Touka asked a question but knew the answer from the look on his face - he was good at hiding his emotions but this seemed a little too raw even for Kaneki to hide.

“Yes…” He took a deep breath. “I’m going to go and reply and find out who this is, but I wanna make sure I’m far enough away from here first.

Touka nodded and let go. “Take care and don’t be too long. Message me if you get in trouble.”

Kaneki nodded back and left the café. Not wanting to wait any longer to reply and trying not to dwell on his current thoughts, he ran along the quiet streets, letting his feet lead him far away from the café and his friends. Cars drove by, not noticing the black clad figure darting along the path, appearing in the pools of light for a moment before vanishing into darkness again.

Eventually he slowed down, breathing hard as he began looking around, the surroundings familiar to him. He was close to his aunt’s house, which meant the park with the whale would be nearby…

He kept walking, the sadness that came over him in the café returning. The streets around him hadn’t changed, the houses were the same, the shops he passed even looked the same. The one convenience store where he bought breakfast every morning when his aunt stopped making it for him, the vending machines where he bought drinks when he didn’t want to go home and instead sat with Hide in the park late into the evening.

He paused. His aunt had never cared when he came back, probably hoped he wouldn’t sometimes, but what about Hide? He had never mentioned his parents, did he have no one waiting for him at home either?

Kaneki came to a stop at the gates of the park - closed now but easily cleared with a single jump. 

Landing on the other side of the barred gates he began thinking about his old friend. What did he really know about his past? They hadn’t really spoken about families and Kaneki had always assumed that Hide just didn’t mention his family because of Kaneki’s situation but what if the blond had been in a similar position.

The lump in his throat reappeared. How had he never noticed…

He walked over to the whale, still present in the middle of the park, though now it seemed much smaller, newer rides and climbing frames now overshadowing the figure. The colour had worn from years in the sun and the blue had faded to an off silver colour. He climbed up and sat on the top, staring at the sky for a moment, the stars mostly hidden by light pollution, only the brightest visible alongside the moon.

He took the phone out of his pocket and looked at the messages again. Taking a deep breath he finally replied.

‘Sorry, who is this?’ He figured that he could still deny that he was Kaneki with this message.

While he waited, he tried to remember the location of the telecommunication towers in this area. He couldn’t see one from where he sat but he was fairly sure he remembered walking past one on the way to school. The phone buzzed in his hand.

‘A lonely rabbit! I’m glad you’re okay.’

The lump returned again, this time with a small sliver of hope that dodged all his attempts to quash it.

‘Who is this?’ Kaneki typed again, hands beginning to shake.

An unbearable wait while he waited for a response. He swallowed hard.

The phone began buzzing, an incoming call highlighted the phone number of the messenger. Shaking, Kaneki pressed the accept call button and held the phone up to his ear, unable to say anything.

“Yo, it’s me, Kaneki. Sorry I haven’t been in touch, you’re hard to find as it turns out.” Kaneki didn’t say anything, deep irregular breaths propelling him towards a small meltdown. It couldn’t be…

“Kaneki, take a deep breath. No need to have a breakdown, it’s just me…” The voice was soothing in his ear, trying to talk him through his emotions. “I’m quite alive, but I’d like to hear you talk too. I’m not just here for the sound of my own voice…”

Kaneki forced himself to take a long, deep breath in an attempt to steady himself. He took another one and then another before he felt able to speak into the phone, his voice cracking embarrassingly on the second syllable. “Hide?”

“The one and only. Are you okay, Kaneki?”

Kaneki nodded and then remembered that Hide couldn’t see him. “Yes…” his voice cracked again. “Where are you? Where have you been? I thought you were….” He trailed off, aware he was throwing too many questions for his friend to answer in one turn.

“Dead? You underestimate me, my dearest Kaneki,” Kaneki could hear the amusement in Hide’s voice. “You were peckish but you passed out pretty quickly, and now I have some cool scars, you know how much cute girls dig a guy with battle scars!”

Kaneki started laughing, tears beginning to stream down his face. “I’m sorry, Hide. Hide… I….” Kaneki had no idea what to say.

“Don’t be, I’m fine and you’re fine. That’s what matters to me. The CCG found a lookalike of you and killed him, saying they’d killed the traitor investigator. That’s why I had to make sure you were okay…” Hide trailed off.

Kaneki didn’t know what to say. “It makes it easier for me in a way… What they did.”

“Yeah, no one bothers looking for ghosts!” Hide laughed then his voice turned serious. “Listen, I’m sorry I can’t come see you yet, but I wanted you to know that I’m here and I’m on your side.” Hide paused, seeming to be trying to decide what to say. “I know this is a lot to ask, and you might wanna ignore this after what happened last time but… can you try your best again? Keep trying and when everything falls into place we’re gonna get together and become the A-Team and THIS time, Kaneki, you won’t be hiding stupid things like being a ghoul from me. Agreed?”

Kaneki laughed again. “I want to see you though, Hide. I don’t think I will believe it’s you until I see you.”

“I mean, if you’re that desperate I could send you a picture. No nudes though!” Hide said, laughing again, even his cheerful voice seeming to become happier as the conversation wore on.

Kaneki laughed and made a motion as though he was going to smack the other man in the arm. “This phone is really old so it’s harder to track, it doesn’t have picture viewing abilities.”

He held the phone away from his ear with a wince as Hide shrieked his disbelief into the phone.

“I’m gonna buy you a nice new one for when we meet up. No pictures on a phone, what century are you living in? You’re like someone’s grandpa with your white hair as well! Next you’ll tell me you’re wearing elasticated trousers and cardigans!”

“Sorry, Hide.” Kaneki ignored the jibe about his hair. “When can we meet? You’re giving very vague answers.”

“Well, I have to stay where I am now for some of my contacts, so it’s best we stay separated for now, but when the time comes I’ll let you know. But the reason I rang, Kaneki, watch out for the CCG, they have more of those Quinx, young ones but these ones seem deadlier - a lot more like Arima.” 

“I heard something about that… everyone is watching out and laying low right now.” Kaneki said, a weight seeming to drift away from his shoulders that he hadn’t realised was still there as the other man spoke.

“You need to do that too, Kaneki. Oh, and take care of your new CCG recruits - they were nice to me when I worked there.”

“I’m trying, though I think everyone else is doing a better job of it than me…” Kaneki admitted, thinking back to Akira. “How do you know all this, anyway?”

“We have a mutual friend of a friend, that’s all I’m going to say for now! But remember what I said, Kaneki. Keep going, keep doing what you need to do. You and your gang aren’t alone, you have other people supporting you as well and we’ll help as much as we can.” Hide sounded a little sadder. “We should probably end this here and you should go home.”

Kaneki couldn’t think of anything he wanted to do less. He knew once he hung up he would start to doubt himself again.

“Hide, can you tell me something that only we know? As soon as we hang up I won’t believe it’s you…” Kaneki said.

“Okay, remember that play we were in as children when you were the prince? And I was the witch’s servant? You were really good…”

“I was a small child, I doubt I was that good,” Kaneki replied, feeling not quite satisfied with the answer but he knew any answer he was given would never be enough. Nothing would be enough until he saw his friend in person.

“You were good, you’ve always been good at acting a part. But now it’s time to act like you and stop trying to hide everything from everyone.”

“I’ll try…” Kaneki said, though it wasn’t as simple as that.

“Don’t try, only do or do not. Wasn’t that Yoda? He was smart, you should listen to him more, Kaneki…” Hide sighed.

“I’ll be sure to spend my days in hiding watching all the Star Wars movies to learn all his wisdom,” Kaneki said. He had forgotten how easily conversing about silly things was with Hide.

“You should, if you’re gonna be in hiding, might as well get some quality movie time in. You should go though, those kids are hunting around Tokyo looking for ghouls and you might be strong enough to deal with them but you’re better off not getting their attention.” Hide sounded serious again.

Kaneki nodded. “I will. You take care, Hide, okay?”

“I will, you take care of yourself too. We’ll meet soon, I promise!”

A smile. “Thank you, Hide. I’m happy you’re alive.”

“I’m happy too! Goodbye, Kaneki. If you need to speak again just call or message me - you have my number after all. But it’s one of those new trackable phones so think of a codename for yourself! Like Big Girl Burger or something…”

“Hide that is the worst codename ever.”

“Well think of something better and introduce yourself next time.” Hide retorted. “Now go home and start planning this revolution of yours!”

“I will, Hide. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye is too formal. Speak to you soon and see you later!”

The phone-line went dead, leaving Kaneki in his thoughts. After several seconds he was tempted to call the number back. It already seemed like a dream. The phone call log told him the call had happened.

Hide was alive…

Fresh tears began to form again, this time filled with relief and joy. His best friend was still alive and soon they might be able to meet and be together again… He hadn’t killed him and Hide was still there, still looking out for him from wherever he was…

Mindful of what Hide had told him, he stood up, dusted himself off and began the run back to the café. 

He had a revolution to plan after all. A revolution that would lead him to Hide and hopefully to a peaceful resolution to everything. A world where he could finally be with his friend again.

**Author's Note:**

> A (very late) gift to my friend who prompted me with the following prompt:
> 
> "things you said with too many miles between us"
> 
> Forever angry that I had pretty much written this when I realised I could have made a whole PS I Love You situation. Ah well!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, just a cute little fluff fic! The pairing is implied I guess, but in my mind it is there!


End file.
